Manchester slumped to a crushing 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth at Old on Saturday. Both teams entered the match in fine form, and Manchester United came out firing but was quickly behind 1-0.
Dominic Solanke, Philip Billing, and Marcos Senesi had scored by the time the dust began to settle on the final score line.
Fresh from their big 2-1 win against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Wednesday, Erik ten Hag saw his team claim 70% possession and take 20-plus shots but fail to find the goal. United fails to go level with fourth-place Man City. The Red Devils are sixth with 27 points and could finish the weekend as low as ninth.
Bournemouth have now won five times in their last seven to catapult the Cherries up the table. Andoni Iraola’s men are 13th with 19 points, closer to the European places than the bottom three.
There were so many symptoms of the sick on display for Manchester United, days after a memorable win over Chelsea threatened to restore validity to their season.
The Red Devils failed to finish anything, were cooked on the counter attack, and looked cooked and dejected by the end of what would’ve been a 4-0 score line had Dango Ouattara not handled the ball while regaining his balance in stoppage time.
Erik ten Hag is getting almost nothing from his marquee signings, as Andre Onana’s stop-start season stopped without many stops on Saturday and Antony is a shell of the man we saw at Ajax. Rasmus Hojlund is still without a goal in Premier League play but has shown well in the Champions League.
Meanwhile, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane were on the bench and Bournemouth fans were serenading Ten Hag with ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ chants.
Man United hosts Bayern Munich at Tuesday in a must-win Champions League group stage match, and then go to Liverpool on Sunday, Dec. 17.
Bournemouth can dream big now, at least in the short-term, as next up is Luton Town at home (Saturday), Forest away, and Fulham at the Vitality Stadium.
